Residents, activists fight to preserve Yingge landmark

By Hsieh Chia-chun and Jason Pan / Staff reporter, with staff writer

Tseng Hsu-tien (曾續田), a section head at New Taipei City’s Department of Cultural Heritage, said the government had tried to negotiate with the new landowner in 2006 for on-site preservation and restoration of the ceramic kiln and its smokestack, but the owner would not agree to it.

Tseng said that because about half of the kiln structure was below ground, it was impossible to know its current condition and original design. Therefor it would be a difficult task to dismantle, relocate and rebuild it.

He said the costs of relocation and reconstruction would be quite high, and because public land would be needed for its new location, that option was unlikely to be approved.